The site of the original Alamo Drafthouse is for rent

The space the original Alamo Drafthouse theater once called home is on the rental market.

09-06-07 Laura Skelding AMERICAN-STATESMAN The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is moving into the old Ritz building on E. 6th Street in downtown Austin. Construction is underway to convert the old building into a cinema with two screens. The original building was built in 1929 and then it was doubled in width in 1937. The original facade will be kept including the historic Ritz sign above the awning, said Superintendent Daniel Osborne, bottom left of frame. POD

In the heart of Austin’s Warehouse District, the second floor space at 409 Colorado St. was most recently used as a nightclub. But longtime Austinites remember the space as the original location of their favorite movie theater chain. Tim and Karrie League opened the first Alamo Drafthouse in the space in 1997, and it remained there for 10 years until moving to the Ritz Theater on Sixth Street due to high rental costs in the Warehouse District.

But those 8,100 square feet won’t come cheap. The Downtown Austin Alliance lists the lease rate at $34 per square foot per year, which means you’ll have to shell out $275,400 a year (that’s $22,950 a month) if you’d like to turn the space into your next business venture. Not to mention they’d like you to commit to a long-term lease of five, seven or 10 years in order to rent the space. No big deal.